Es'kia Mphahlele was a South African writer, academic, artist and activist. He was born as Ezekiel Mphahlele but changed his name to Es'kia in 1977.

Biography

Mphahlele's first book of short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

, Man Must Live, was published in 1947

1947 in literature

The year 1947 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Diary of Anne Frank is published for the first time.*Jack Kerouac makes the journey which he will later chronicle in his book On the Road....

. Banned from teaching by the apartheid government in 1951, Mphahlele supported himself and his family through a series of clerical jobs before leaving South Africa to teach in the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Protectorate

Protectorate

In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...

 of Basutoland

Basutoland

Basutoland or officially the Territory of Basutoland, was a British Crown colony established in 1884 after the Cape Colony's inability to control the territory...

.

On his return to South Africa, Mphahlele soon found a job as a political reporter, sub-editor and fiction editor on the innovative popular magazine Drum, under its editors Anthony Sampson

Anthony Sampson

Anthony Terrell Seward Sampson was a British writer and journalist. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford and served with the Royal Navy from 1944-47. During the 1950s he edited the magazine Drum in Johannesburg, South Africa...

 and later under Sylvester Stein

Sylvester Stein

Sylvester Stein is a writer, publisher and athlete.Stein grew up in Durban, son of a mathematics professor. His sister and brother are both life scientists....

, while studying for a Master's degree by correspondence at UNISA (The University of South Africa). Es'kia Mphahlele's life and work is currently found in the efforts of The Es'kia Institute, a non-governmental, non-profit organisation based in Johannesburg.

During the 1950s Mphahlele became increasingly politicised, and joined the African National Congress

African National Congress

The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...

 in 1955. Disappointed in ANC approach to matters of education - he later disassociated himself from the organisation. In 1957, Mphahlele was offered a job teaching in a Church Mission Society

Church Mission Society

The Church Mission Society, also known as the Church Missionary Society, is a group of evangelistic societies working with the Anglican Communion and Protestant Christians around the world...

 school in Lagos, Nigeria. Unwilling to permit him to travel abroad because of his political activities, the South African government finally granted him a passport in September 1957.

Mphahlele spent the following twenty years in exile: first in Nigeria, and subsequently in Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, where he was director of the Chemchemi Cultural Centre; Zambia

Zambia

Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....

; France and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where he earned a doctoral degree from the University of Denver

University of Denver

The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....

 and taught at the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

. Mphahlele returned to South Africa in 1977 and joined the faculty of the University of the Witwatersrand

University of the Witwatersrand

The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...

.

Non-Fiction

The African Image (1962)

• " ES'KIA" (2002) Publisher: Stainbank & Associates
• "ES'KIA Continued" (2004) Publisher: Stainbank & Associates

Short stories

• "The Living and the Dead"
• "He and the Cat"
• "The Barber of Bariga"
• "A Ballad of Oyo"
• "A Point of Identity"
• "Grieg on a Stolen Piano"
• "In Corner B"
• "Mrs. Plum"
• "Down the Quiet Street"
• "The Coffee-Cart Girl"